There are women of color and there are disabled women; there are lesbians and there are women of faith; there are mothers and there are servicewomen; there are women veterans and bisexual women, and that’s hardly an exhaustive list of the subcategories of women. Women’s experience intersects with multiple labels and multiple identities; each woman’s experience is complex, and not solely described within the confines of the “female” and “woman” found within western society’s binary sex and gender norms.
In the past handful of years, I’ve come to understand that the trans in the phrase “trans woman” is a descriptor for a kind of woman in the same way that “disabled” and “African American” are descriptors of kinds of women in the phrases “disabled woman” and “African American woman.”
But of course, not all believe that the term “trans woman” is actually describing any sort of woman at all.
Recently I read a piece on the Web site GenderTrender that is a partial transcript of a talk by lesbian feminist academic Sheila Jeffreys. The piece is entitled Sheila Jeffreys: the McCarthyism of Transgender and the Sterilization of Transgender Children. From the transcript:
“(T)he problem with transgenderism – which is obviously an expression of men’s sexual rights as well of course (it’s very much about the right to be sexually excited by female clothing, and subordination and so on.) But it also comes out of the gendered system. And it means that in order to support transgenderism, gender has to be supported. So the subordination of women has to be supported in order for transgenderism to be supported. Transgender as a phenomenon is the clearest possible indication of the strength of the structures of the male domination going on right now.”
So, by being a transsexual who embraces the sociopolitical identity of transgender, I’m a vexation toward the belief systems for a number of lesbian feminists regarding gender.
And of course, there is an embracing of surgery to treat transsexualism. Again, from Sheila Jeffreys:
“(Sexual Oppression’s) strongest manifestation of course takes place in what’s called ‘transgenderism’ which is a practice in which persons who do not adhere to the correctly gendered practices that have been placed upon the biological sex are considered to have something called Gender Identity Disorder and they’re expected to cross over into the other sex. Not criticize the gendered system as it exists, because that’s unthinkable, but to make some kind of ‘journey’ by mutilating their bodies and taking dangerous drugs for the rest of their lives in order to supposedly represent the opposite sex.”
I’ve been taking hormones and androgen blockers for over 8 years – the “dangerous drugs” to which Sheila Jeffreys refers. And on Aug. 17, 2011, I’m heading up to Lake Oswego, Ore. for a bilateral orchidectomy.
A bilateral orchidectomy is also referred to as castration. For male-to-female transsexuals, a bilateral orchidectomy is a form of genital reconstruction surgery that’s short of a vaginoplasty (a vaginoplasty creates a vagina, labia, and clitoris from a penis and scrotum).
I know that for most men, any form of genital reconstruction surgery is a cringe moment. For me, my orchidectomy will be a relief. In having the surgery I’ll not only remove the primary source of testosterone in my body, but will also allow me to change my California birth certificate to indicate I’m female. From there, all of my identifications from my Social Security records to my current Department of Defense records will be able to be changed from male to female.
When we define women, are we referring to sex, gender or both sex and gender? Are we defining women by genetics and/or a particular shape of genitalia at birth, or shape of genitalia in the present?
I know that my gender identity and the shape of my genitalia at birth for most of my life haven’t matched. I know that for numerous reasons, at this point in my life I don’t want a vaginoplasty, but I do want surgery to remove the primary source of testosterone from my body; surgery that also allows me to change all of my identity documentation from male to female.
Call me a disabled woman; call me a woman veteran, but especially call me a trans woman. I’m trans and proud and happy to be soon having genital reconstruction surgery.
No…being castrated is NOT genital reconstruction surgery. It is castration. Nothing is reconstructed It does not make one a female, and using such surgery to change one’s birth certificate is a fraud, both legally and factually. Women do not have penises, at least not willingly. Having, and wanting to keep, a penis is the choice of a man, not a woman. This is why so many transsexuals want no part of being “transgender.” We are tired of the lies, the deception, and people claiming that having a penis is consistent with being a female.
By it’s very definition GRS requires the making of penile tissue into it’s complementary female parts. The testicles are discarded in all currently practiced GRS procedures. You will appear no more female than you did before your bilateral orchidectomy, you are also putting yourself at great risk for increased depression. Endocrine system upset does effect brain chemistry.
Androgen blockers only stop a narrow slice of the hormones the testicles produce.
It’s not a sure bet you will get a new birth certificate from the state of California, the poster above brought up the very real possibility you wild be committing fraud. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the VA decides that a physical exam would be required first before change the sex on all your records.
Peace.
NYF
Here is the State of California definition.
“Gender reassignment” is when a person has his or her
sexual characteristics surgically altered to those of the
opposite sex””
Sorry Autumn an orch doesn’t qualify as sex reassignment.
Furthermore the women I know find this an insult that someone who is anatomically male could get their birth certificate changed without reconstructive surgery.
Here is the State of California definition.
“Gender reassignment” is when a person has his or her
sexual characteristics surgically altered to those of the
opposite sex””
Source;
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/birthdeathmar/Documents/Gender-Reassignment-PAMPHLET-%2811-10%29-MERGED.pdf
Sorry Autumn an orch doesn’t qualify as sex reassignment.
Furthermore the women I know find this an insult that someone who is anatomically male could get their birth certificate changed without reconstructive surgery.
.
Sorry hun, but castration will only make you a eunuch, not a woman by any stretch of the imagination. Women don’t have penises.
In which court will you be attempting to perpetrate this fraud? I hope that people will do like me and advise that court of the reality of your “surgery”.
I applaud Ms. Sandeen for doing what she needs to do to be happy with her body. I personally do not feel that having a penis in any way makes her less of a woman. However, it is not proper to refer to an orchi as ‘genital reconstruction surgery’ of any kind. To do so demeans those of us who either went through, or like myself are currently going through, tremendous obstacles and hoops to get actual S(G)RS.
It trivializes the financial burden some of us place ourselves under, forsaking many things we want now for the promise of SRS in the future. It trivializes the time taken to convince health care providers of something we’ve known our whole lives, and it trivializes the struggles we go through after SRS.
With all respect to all the above comments , Castration may be called a part of GRS , if the writer is not ready to have vaginoplasty for now why you force her to do so , i had an orchidectomy my slef about 2 years ago in Thailand , the only reason i did so that i had not enough money to do the vaginolasty ( i came from a country where there is no health insurance) , so there are many reasons that trans women go for castration , it is not always black and white , and about genetic women find this an insult , they find every thing about us is an insult even with a vaginoplast most of them insist that we are not women , we are men who had a surgery to inverse their penis , and (according to them) we will never be women , so i think it is better not to try to apply our rules on others , by the way there are many european countries issue a femal IDs to trans women after starting hormone theraby ,North America is 50 years late than europe in these issues .
Mary
While you are correct in that castration is a part of the process of genital reconstructive surgery it does not make someone physically or legally female in California USA.
What Sandeen is doing is an affront and a fraud to anybody who knows the difference between a man and a woman. It is an insult to all of us born with a transsexual or intersex birth condition.
Mary,
The difference here is that Sandeen has made it clear that he has no plans to have anything further. He has put forward some pretty lame excuses for why he wants to keep his penis. That is the basic difference. He will not be a woman legally, and I seriously hope someone is able to appear in court and challenge his petition. He is perpetuating a fraud, and should be stopped. Simply put, by taking certain medications he will still be able to fully function as a male. In fact, simply stopping estrogen my be enough to allow this. Not every male who is castrated become impotent.
Given that the adrenal glands also produce testosterone this is very likely.
Everyone, men, woman, real transsexuals, and fake transsexuals produce testosterone in varying degrees. Testosterone is what provides sex drive for men, women, fake transsexuals, real transsexuals, transvestites and yes even Eunuchs.
The court calender is a public record Sandeen can petition any superior court in the state although it will cast suspicion on the order to show cause if the order is not filed in the county which Sandeen lives in You know “Sandeen ego” county to borrow a quote from Sandeen’s latest post on the subject.
I must say it says a lot about the company Sandeen keeps if they will stand by and let Sandeen get away with fraud. Every real male to female transsexual, post correction woman and woman born woman right now reading this are shaking their heads and wondering what this world has come to to allow a Tee-Gee to get away with this.
Why am I not surprised to see Jennifer Usher (Just Jennifer) and Sue Ann Robins (Not Your Friend) posting negative comments here? Neither of these delusional crossdressers has undergone a real sex change themselves, and they deal with their own feelings of guilt by attacking transexuals. They both went from being out and proud transvestites to magically transforming themselves into women without the benefit of surgery!
Just so you know I have been a Stanley Biber girl since 1984.
I don’t know who this other person is you are talking about.
You should get your facts right before opening your ignorant mouth.
Now run along Joann and let the real women talk.